Method of producing light.



PATENTED MAR. 13, 1906. P. G. HEWITT.

METHOD OF PRODUCING LIGHT.

APPLICATION FILED 001. 19. 1304.

, ITT, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of New York, county of New York State of N ewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of UNITED STATES PATENTOFFIOE.

PETER COOPER HEWITTQQ'OF roan, N. r, ASSIGNOR TO COOPER HEWITT ELECTRIC (JOMPASY; or NE roan, N. 15., 1A CORPORA- T ION or NEW YORK.

METHOD OF 'Pn oouqine L GHT.

' I Specification ofLetters Patient.

racemes March' 1a, 1906.

Original application filed July '1, 904, Serial in. 15,5 3, madam-th s application filed October 19, i904. s a n 113.229.0154.

To an whom it may concermv .Be it known that 1, PETER CooPER Hnw- Producing Light, of which the following is a specification.

The object of. this invention is to produce light by means of a vapor apparatus generit y similar to the lamp disc osed in certain I "patents issued to me on the 17th day of September, 1901 wherein, however, the light generated 'eld color other than that of the spectrum 0 the material constituting the negative electrode. It has been found convenient inpractice heretofore in'lamps of this character to use mercury as the material of the negative electrode, the light emitted being that of mercury-vapor.

The present, invention contemplates the use of mercury 01'' other suitable material for the substance of the negative electrode, and it also contemplates the association with the vapors which are naturally developed from the substance-of the negative electrode during the operation of the lamp of some other gas, acting together with the generated vaor to form the vapor-conducting column or fight-giving body, whereby the spectrum or light effect given off by the fixed gas or other selected as or vapor will modify the light given off ythe lamp if the said gas or vapor were not present in the container, This added gas or va or may be caused to act as a conductor an to give out its characteristic color or spectrum under the influence of electric current, if means are provided for condensingthe va or volatilized at the negative electrode in t e vicinity of the said electrode, thus preventing the vapors developed at the negative electrode from actin as the sole conductor through the entire bo y of the container. ,Such a condensation of the vapors in the vicinity of the negative electrode may 'be caused by providing a suitable cooling space or chamber at or near the negat ve electrode. The lamp will then operate w th a dual light, so to speak, the current leaving the ositive electrode at a point within the fixed gas or vapor or other selected gas or vapor and being carried by means of the said The i w r, radiating the spectrum ofthef,

selected pose indicated; but I prefer neon or one of the recently-discovered inert gases or a gas that is not chemically active.

I do not wish to limit myself to the use of mercur as the material of the negative electrode; but I may use any conductor which is vaporizable and capable of being returned to the electrode-in other words, a vaporizable self restorin g conductor, whether mer curyalone or mercury combined with some other substance or some other substance that will fulfil .the requirements of the present invention, so far as the material of the nega tive electrode is concerned.

I have illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawing, in which 1 is a tubular the inclosing su stance of a gas or vapor electric lamp. J A positive electrode for the lamp is shown at 2, and this may be of iron or other suitable solid material. The negative electrode in this instance appearing at 3 is of mercury, having about it an enlargement or chamber 4 which is suflicient in size to cause a uic or approximately instantaneous con ensation of the mercuryvapors as they are developed from the negative electrode in the operation of the lamp.

In the container we may assume in the present instance that neon is inclosed, although nitrogen, argon, or other fixed or com-' bined gas or vapor may be substituted for the neon assumed in the present instance.

A lamp such as the one abovedescribed maybe started in the same way as the wellknown mercury-vapor lamps of commerce; but under the conditions described the main source of light would be the illuminated col umn of gas or vapor extending through the main portion of the container 1. Under certain conditions of workingv the lower part of the container might show the characteristic mercurywapor light; but this can be extended or limited, as the case may be, by regu:

glass container constituting gas or vapor for a certain distance currentwill then transfer itself [to the vapor developedat the negative electrode ,lating the characteristics of the condensingchamber 4, 'so asto control the total luminous effect of the lamp according to wislrpr the re uirements of a articular service.

n another'app' cation filed b me July 7, 1904, Serial No. 215,578,.of Whic this application is a division, claims are made upon the ap aratus described herein.

claim as my invention- The method of producing a predetermined luminous effect by means of a gas or vapor electric apparatus containin as one of its electrodes a conducting liqui capable of being volatilized and condensed under'thc influence of electric current and also containing a gas or vapor other than the one which ing the apparatus by any approved means,

and condensingall or a portion of the vapors develo ed from the described electrode at or near t e point of development, thereby permitting current topass mainly through thesaid other gas or vapor and developing its characteristic light.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,,this 12th day of October, A. D. 1904.

PETER COOPER HEWITT. Witnesses:

WM. H. CAPEL, GEORGE H. STOOKBRIDGE. 

